CompilationSpeed - z88dk/z88dk GitHub Wiki

For a given program, compilation speed depends on several factors:

• Compiler used and flags
• Operating system and hardware
• Target library size

Taking the classic adv_a.c example (over 3000 lines) and compiling using the classic +zxn and +primo libraries. The +zxn library file is about 1.5MB, the +primo is about 1MB.

Operating System	CPU	Compiler	Wall clock time	Compile line
MacOS 10.14	i7-3557U	sccz80	1.49s	zcc +zxn -clib=classic adv_a.c --generic-console -create-app -compiler=sccz80 -lndos
MacOS 10.14	i7-3557U	sccz80	0.9s	zcc +primo adv_a.c -create-app -lndos -compiler=sccz80 --generic-console
Ubuntu 18.10	i5-6260U	sccz80	1.45s	zcc +zxn -clib=classic adv_a.c --generic-console -create-app -compiler=sccz80 -lndos
Windows 10 (Virtualised)	i5-6260U	sccz80	2.5s	zcc +zxn -clib=classic adv_a.c --generic-console -create-app -compiler=sccz80 -lndos
MacOS 10.14	i7-3557U	zsdcc	7.5s	zcc +zxn -clib=classic adv_a.c --generic-console -create-app -compiler=sdcc -lndos
Windows 10 (Virtualised)	i5-6260U	zsdcc	7.5s	zcc +zxn adv_a.c -clib=classic -create-app -lndos -compiler=sdcc
MacOS 10.14	i7-3557U	zsdcc	7s	zcc +primo adv_a.c -create-app -lndos --generic-console -compiler=sdcc
MacOS 10.14	i7-3557U	zsdcc	43s	zcc +zxn -clib=classic adv_a.c --generic-console -create-app -compiler=sdcc -lndos --max-allocs-per-node200000
Windows 10 (Virtualised)	i5-6260U	zsdcc	36s	zcc +zxn adv_a.c -clib=classic -create-app -lndos -compiler=sdcc --max-allocs-per-node200000

The largest component of compilation time is the compiler chosen and the flags applied. For development purposes it's quicker to use sccz80 as the underlying compiler, however if this is undesirable, then splitting the project into smaller compilation units and using a tool that can track dependencies (such as make) to run the compilation would be a good compromise that can speed up the development cycle.